For the first time in human history, entire populations have come to
expect the material comforts and living standards that were once the exclusive prerogative
of the elite. A global revolution of rising expectations is awakening an insistent urge
for development in every country. The slow subconscious growth of society, which has long
been inadequate to meet this demand, must be converted into a conscious process of
accelerated development for all people everywhere. The awakened energies have to be
harnessed and channeled into constructive developmental activities.

War and human progress have co-existed for millennium and have
sometimes been mutually reinforcing. But the demand for widespread prosperity embracing
the whole of society is incompatible with the enormous costs and destructive consequences
of war. Peace is an imperative precondition for fulfillment of humanitys aspiration
for prosperity.

Despite the many unsolved problems confronting humanity, the world is
gradually moving toward the realization that there are no inherent limits to human
achievement and that the central determinant of that achievement is human resourcefulness.
People are the driving force, the means and the goal of the development process. In order
to fully utilize and enjoy this human potential, we must first evolve a clearer
understanding of how and why individuals and societies develop and what we can do to
consciously support that process.

Development is the process of awakening and releasing human energies in pursuit of
higher achievements. New social institutions and individual skills are needed to
positively channel the awakened energies into constructive activities. Otherwise, these
energies tend to spill over into frustration and violence. Creating the awareness of
opportunities, fashioning the institutions and acquiring of these skills are essential
components of the development process.

Everywhere we see a vast gap between developmental opportunities and
developmental achievements. The world today possesses an enormous reservoir of unutilized
human skills and capacities, proven technology, practically valuable information, untapped
markets, underdeveloped resources, legal expertise, and administrative and organizational
know-how. A full utilization of these potentials can rapidly multiply the results of our
effort and generate ten-fold greater achievements. Among these resources, organization
possesses the greatest potential for transforming social life to meet the needs of all
people. As the 20th Century has revealed the vast productive powers of scientific
technology, the 21st should reveal the unlimited creative potentials of the technology of
organization.

Culture has been at once a persistent barrier and a great motive power
for development. An insistent clinging to the external forms of culture has often been a
bar to advancement. The continuous enrichment of the values that constitute the core of
every culture is the greatest fruit of civilization and the most powerful lever for
further human progress. Physical, social, organizational, ethical and psychological values
embody the essence of a universally shared life knowledge that is the basis of all
successful human endeavors. The distillation of these core values and their active
transmission through information, education and social institutions are the key to the
most rapid and harmonious human development.

Acknowledging the invaluable efforts that have already been made by
many agencies to emphasize the importance of a human-centered approach to development,
this report presents a wider perspective of the dynamic process that underlies, energizes
and supports human development in every field and focuses on strategies that can most
effectively stimulate and accelerate that process. It attempts to uncover a vast untapped
or under-utilized potential for promoting more rapid and successful advancement of our
global society. It seeks to generate a faith and a conviction that if the experience and
knowledge of accomplishment already gained by a portion of humanity is fully extended and
applied for the benefit of all, eradicating global poverty can be achieved within a
decade. By more fully exercising the inherent resourcefulness of our species, we can
overcome the obstacles that still obstruct our efforts to create a better common future.

These recommendations should be carried out by both governmental and
non-governmental agencies at the national and international level to generate accelerate
the development process:

International Level

1. The UN Secretariat should initiate an international effort to
evolve a comprehensive, human-centered theory of individual and social development that
will lead to the formulation of more effective strategies to accelerate the development
process.

2. Major international surveys should be undertaken by UNESCO to
identify the gaps in the availability of information to people in countries at different
levels of development regarding opportunities, accomplishments, problems and solutions in
employment, agriculture, industry, commerce, management, science, technology, health,
education, law and social welfare. The studies should assess the potential benefit and
best strategies for filling in these gaps through intensified efforts to disseminate
information.

3. A special commission of eminent international thinkers should be
constituted under UNESCO to evolve a vision of the progress the world is most likely to
achieve during the next 25, 50 and 100 years and to identify recommendations to accelerate
progress toward these achievement.

4. Measures and indices such as UNDPs Human Development Index
that provide a comparative national assessment of progress on key dimensions of
development generate greater awareness and stimulate greater political will and social
initiative to improve performance. In a similar manner, UNDP should commission a program
to construct one or a series of scales to measure the organizational development of
countries covering major sectors such as commerce, industry, agriculture, education,
health care, and technical training. The scale should evaluate the level of organization
in terms of its overall support to activities in each of these fields and well as the
number and quality of institutions providing this support. Where objective measures are
not possible, a rank or relative scale will suffice. These scales can then be utilized by
countries to assess their own level of organizational development and to identify key
areas where improvement is most needed.

5. Trained professionals from the UN Volunteer Corps and national
service corps from member countries can be enlisted to identify and catalog highly
successful social systems and institutions that enable some countries to perform
significantly better than others, covering fields such as law and public administration,
agriculture, industry, scientific research, education, housing and public health. This
inventory will serve as a valuable resource to countries seeking models for how to improve
the effectiveness of their institutions.

6. One or more commercial organizations should be established as
autonomous divisions of UNIDO, the Third World Academy of Sciences and other international
agencies to promote the commercial transfer of technology to, within and between
developing countries and to channel the profits from this activity toward research in
these countries.

7. UNESCO should commission studies to construct a series of scales to
measure the level of key skills in societies at different levels of development. The
scales should assess the quantitative and qualitative development of key physical,
technical, vocational and organizational skills.

8. A coordinated effort should be undertaken by the UN to establish a
model program in one country designed to identify and tap all the available social
opportunities and fully utilize all the available social resources. The achievements of
this model will demonstrate the scope for every country to accelerate development by
tapping their unutilized social resources.

9. An international program coordinated by UNESCO should be initiated
to prepare development education curricula for all levels of school and collegiate
education. The curricula should present a conceptual and historical perspective of the
process of human development taking place nationally and globally. It should actively
foster values of tolerance and integration and identify opportunities for individual
advancement, with special emphasis on entpreneurship and self-employment.

10. UNESCO should initiate a research program to evolve a radically new
educational curricula for the 21st Century that will endow the individual with the
knowledge, skills and values needed for high material achievement, psychological
well-being and true mental objectivity.

Developing Countries

11. In all developing countries with literacy rates of less than
95%, a massive campaign should be lauched to eradicate illiteracy by year 2000, engaging
the participation of educational institutions, non-governmental agencies, military and
national service corps personnel .

12. Central and state governments should give the highest possible
priority to raising the educational achievements of female children. The benefits of
educating girls on health, nutrition, population control, and family welfare should be
widely publicized. Developmental assistance should be directly linked to progress on this
crucial issue.

13. Governments in cooperation with public foundations, research
institutes, universities and voluntary agencies should identify gaps in practically useful
information available to and known by the population regarding individual and collective
opportunities and achievements in agriculture, industry, trade, management, science,
technology, nutrition, health, education, employment, law and social welfare. These
agencies should promote wider dissemination through governmental and non-governmental
channels and the media. This effort is especially needed to prepare the populations of
Eastern Europe for rapid acceptance of new political and economic systems.

14. Introduce measures to increase the velocity (speed of transmission
and utilization) of money, information, decision-making, application and dissemination of
technology, transportation and communication to increase productivity and stimulate
development.

15. Each country should assess the functioning of the key institutions
that support agriculture, commerce, industry, exports, invention, marketing, distribution,
consumer and commercial credit, housing, health, education, training and other key
activities to determine the scope, quality and effectiveness of their operations in
comparison with those in more developed nations. Evolve strategies to raise the quality
and quantity of the social organization for development to that of nations at a more
advanced stage.

16. An entire spectrum of new institutions and systems needs to be
established at the local and national level in East European countries in order to support
rapid transition. Highest priority should be given to identifying and introducing them in
all sectors of the national life.

17. Combined teams of researchers and business professionals in each
country should identify innovative systems successfully employed by other nations to
improve performance in key sectors of the economy and propose steps to introduce as many
as possible.

18. Prepare an inventory of key physical, commercial, educational,
organizational and technical skills needed to raise the country to the level of nations at
the next higher level of development. Place maximum emphasis on investments to raise the
quality and quantity of skills to that level.

19. There is enormous scope for raising productivity by improving the
technical knowledge and skills of farmers in developing countries. Establish agricultural
farm schools at the village level throughout the country to train young farmers in
advanced cultivation methods and demonstrate their efficacy on farmers lands. These
schools should be located on lands leased out from farmers, which are commercially
cultivated by the students as part of the training program.

20. Basic technical and vocational skills are in short supply in most
developing countries and this shortage acts as a significant constraint to more rapid
growth in incomes and jobs. Extend and expand the system of technical and vocational
training by establishing local craftsmen training institutes offering a wide range of
basic technical and vocational training at the local level throughout the country.

21. Research should be undertaken to identify proven but under-utilized
agricultural, industrial, commercial, educational and medical technologies in the country
and evolve strategies to more widely disseminate and to propose measures to popularize
their use.

22. Identify "products" that can act as catalysts to release
the energies and initiative of the population for higher achievement. Develop systems and
programs that make it possible for individuals to obtain these products by their own
initiative.

23. Development education should be introduced at all levels of the
curricula of schools, colleges and universities in every country to impart a greater
knowledge of the process of development the society is passing through and the
opportunities which it presents for individual accomplishment, with emphasis on
entrepreneurship and self-employment.

24. The media and popular literature should be utilized to publicize
success stories and achievements in every field and encourage constructive imitation to
quickly multiply successful initiatives.

25. Introduce model programs in one district to identify and tap all
the available social opportunities and fully utilize all the available social resources.

Developed Countries

26. Raise the minimum compulsory level of education by two years in
industrialized nations to reduce unemployment and better equip the next generation for
coping with the increasing complexity and sophistication of life in the coming century.
Intensify efforts to reduce high school dropouts and encourage greater enrollment in
higher education.

27. Government agencies and private research institutions should
endeavor to identify critical information gaps that hampered progress on key social issues
such as employment, trade, inflation, crime, drugs, urban poverty and public health, to
commission studies to document essential information and to widely disseminate the
findings.

28. Examine the systems and institutions introduced by other
industrialized nations to promote economic development and introduce those that can
beneficially adapted.

29. Introduce management training as an essential part of the high
school and college level curriculum in order to impart essential planning, organizational
and financial skills to all students.

30. Governments and private enterprise in developed nations should
intensify technical and vocational training programs to better equip their workforce for
competition in the next century.

31. As society progresses, certain achievements or "products"
come to symbolize the higher status associated with that progress and the pursuit of
achievements acts as a spur to the rest of the society. Aristocratic titles, the trappings
of wealth and the automobile have played this role in the past. Conduct a study to
identify new "products" that can act as a stimulus to release and channel social
energies for higher achievement.

The increasing velocity of change around the world necessitates a
fundamental rethinking of our concepts and strategies for development. After countless
centuries of slow, often imperceptible progress, humanity everywhere is on the move. An
avalanche of technological advance has brought with it wave after wave of social
innovation. While not long ago most people expected to end their lives in the same place
and largely the same position as they and their predecessors began them, today entire
societies are motivated by an expectation, an urge, a feverish drive for rapid advancement
that has acquired the characteristics of a global, social revolution, a revolution of
rising expectations.

In previous centuries the primary aim of society was survival and
stability of the existing social order. The primary social forces were aligned to maintain
the status quo. Growth was confined to the advancement of a small number of individuals,
mostly within existing levels of the established social order. Development was a slow,
haphazard and largely unconscious result of countless individual efforts. Today the human
aspiration for greater comfort, convenience, security and enjoyment motivates entire
societies to embrace progress as their primary goal and collectively dedicate themselves
to achieve it, encouraging and supporting the initiative of individuals to advance their
own position and in that way contribute to the general progress. The race for development
has become an intense preoccupation of every nation. The slow pace of trial and error
growth is no longer adequate to meet the rising demands of the people.

This movement has become so widespread and so compelling that it is not
bound by either rationality or morality. Revolution means to bring future results more
quickly, sooner than they would come through normal evolutionary processes. The power of
the human mind to formulate intense expectations of future results propels people to
change their behavior now in order to attain them. These expectations are the seed and
driving force for social progress. They provide the energy and create the openness and
willingness for change. But they also increase the danger of frustration, disappointment
and violence. Revolutions of the past have been partial and localized negative reactions
against an existing social order that benefited aonly a small part of society. They
resulted in war and destruction. The revolution of rising expectations is a positive,
constructive movement spreading to encompass the entire global society and pressing for
establishment of a higher social organization that can meet the expectations of all
humanity. Society has no alternative but to meet these growing expectations by channeling
the awakened energies into productive pursuits. The task now is to make the previously
unconscious process of development conscious, to accelerate it and to convert the
revolution of rising social expectations into a positive energizing movement of the entire
society.

The most essential prerequisite and condition for the fulfillment of
this revolution is peace. In the past, war and development have often been able to
co-exist and sometimes even complement each other. Technological progress increased
defensive and offensive capabilities. The demands of war stimulated greater economic
activity and spurred organizational innovation, especially to the benefit of those not
directly engaged in the conflict. Guns were one of the first products of mass production.
Today this is no longer the case. The devastating power of even conventional weapons on
economic activity and society in general is so great that no developed nation can afford
the costs of military confrontation either at home or overseas. No longer can
non-combatants sit quietly on the sidelines or work productively undisturbed. War has come
to involve and effect all of society. Infrastructure and productive facilities have become
a principal target of military action. Food supplies are frequently the first major
casualty and most lethal weapon. A single explosion can paralyze a major metropolis or
contaminate an entire region with toxic material. The disruption of trade resulting even
from regional conflicts like the Persian Gulf War of the War in Bosnia impacts not only on
the economies of the combatants but also on neighbors, trading partners and global
economic performance. Neither the victor nor the victim can any longer afford to resolve
conflicts violently. Political states may still be able to survive wars, but developmental
achievements cannot. The ravages of war will remain painfully visible in Bosnia and
Somalia long after political issues are resolved.

So long as the benefits of development are confined to one or a few
sections of society, the costs of militarization and war may not prevent economic and
social progress. But when the goal is to extend the benefits of development to the entire
society, every social resource must be garnered and harnessed for this purpose. The
colossal costs of armaments and the colossal destruction of war are incompatible with the
achievement of prosperity for all. Peace has become the fundamental imperative for
development.

Development is the master word of the late 20th Century. Never before
in history have so many people in so many countries been so totally preoccupied with
writing, reporting, debating, planning, organizing, educating, training and acting to
promote any grand cause. Development has become an all-embracing word that is widely
applied to agriculture and industry, science and technology, economics and business,
politics and administration, social and cultural change. Despite universal consensus as to
its importance, there is still an enormous disparity of views about what development is
and how best it can be realized. The UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, recently
stated that reflecting on our basic understanding of development is "the most
important intellectual challenge of the coming years".

Development is a strictly human phenomenon. There is no development
without people. It is not agriculture, industry, economy, science or technology that
develops. It is humanity that develops agriculture, industry, science, economic systems,
culture and countless other instruments and fields of self-expression. The individual and
the human collective are the center and driving force and chief protagonists of the
development process. Understanding this truth, the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
once asked a group of new government officers to define development. After rejecting a
long list of partial definitions referring to physical infrastructure, capital investment,
industry, science and technology, Nehru offered his own: "By development we mean
development of consciousness." Progressive changes in our knowledge, understanding,
attitudes, perceptions, intentions, opinions, aspirations, motives and values, and in the
skills, technologies, systems, institutions, laws and wider organizational mechanisms
humanity fashions to express them constitute the foundation, the essence, the driving
force and the instruments for the myriad expressions of development we see in different
fields of social life.

Historically, society has progressed from experience to knowledge by
a slow, trail and error process of physical experimentation leading to greater awareness,
new discoveries and new ideas. It gathers facts and learns how to achieve by prolonged
subconscious experience. It attempts and achieves, then later comes to understand the
secret of that success. Eventually that understanding becomes formulated as a conscious
knowledge which can be passed on to others. Even today, many of our past achievements are
not yet fully understood and very few possess a vision of the future towards which it
strives. The development the world strives after is not this slow subconscious process of
learning. It is conscious development that can only be achieved by a knowledge of the
process, the theory, applied practically to accelerate individual and social progress. If
society has the vision of where it is going and the knowledge of how to release social
initiative in new directions, it can then accelerate progress by moving from knowledge
to experience. It can make the process conscious.

The recent shift in perspective from economic development to human
development is an important step toward evolving more valid theory. Still many mistake the
strategy and the measures for the process and the goal. The shift in emphasis from
economic growth to improving life expectancy, nutrition, housing, education and employment
opportunities; the shift in strategy from investment in infrastructure and industry to
investment in schools, training institutes, and public health programs are based on the
recognition that improving peoples lives, not building economic systems, is the
essential purpose of development. But improving the status of people in terms of their
education, health, nutrition, housing, life expectancy, political and social freedoms and
opportunities is only a part of development. They define or describe development in terms
of some of its goals and expressions. They do not really tell us what it is or how it
happens.

Development is not only the achievement of certain definable goals or
status. It is a dynamic and continuous process of increasing human capacity,
of bringing to the surface and manifesting greater potentials of the individual and the
social collective--of developing human resourcefulness to solve problems and tap
opportunities to achieve progressively higher levels of comfort, convenience, security,
knowledge, enjoyment, creativity and fulfillment. Human-centered development means
development which seeks to harness the awakened aspirations of the people by providing the
information, establishing the institutions and imparting the skills that will enable them
to build up their capacities, direct their energies and utilize their available resources
for their own progress.

A comprehensive approach to development can not afford to argue over
the relative importance of technology, economic policy, political rights, education,
training, organization, peoples participation or other factors. Rather it must come
to view all of these as instruments and expressions of a more fundamental, underlying
process. This process reveals a vast untapped potential, an extraordinary vision of
opportunity, open to humanity at the present time, based on more rapid development of
human resourcefulness and made possible by the recent reduction in global military threats
and tensions.

A brief overview of development experience in recent decades
illustrates a wide disparity between this conception and the strategies that have commonly
been applied to improve the human condition. During the post-war period, soaring
aspirations of newly independent states and socialist countries seeking to emulate the
swift recovery of Western Europe under the Marshall Plan and quickly catch up with the
West placed unprecedented responsibilities on national governments and later on
international institutions to accelerate the pace of social progress. The role of
government evolved from defender of the borders and keeper of domestic peace to that of
economic leader and social provider. Former freedom leaders and war heroes were suddenly
called upon to mobilize their countries for development, for which their experiences with
armed struggle provided little preparation. Governments throughout the developing world
tried to accomplish development through centralized planning, public sector ownership and
entrepreneurship, tight control of trade and currency, subsidies, incentives, quotas,
licenses and complex administrative procedures.

The resultant effort proved deficient in several respects:

1. Most countries attempted development through bureaucratic,
administrative organizations designed to control and regulate society but incapable of
mobilizing social energies and releasing social initiative.

2. Development was perceived in terms of programs to be carried
out by government, rather than as a social movement of the population which government
could encourage and support, but never accomplish on behalf of the society. Programs were
rarely based on clear strategies for generating social initiative.

3. Programs were usually fragmented sectoral initiatives that
tended to ignore important contributing factors from other sectors and the complex
interrelationships that exist between them. Even successful strategies were most often
partial rather than integrated. Comprehensive integrated strategies such as
Indias Green Revolution that combined information, technology, incentives,
organizational mechanisms, education and training were the exception.

4. Strategies and programs were rarely founded on well-conceived
development policy that embraced the entire national life.

5. There did not yet exist a conceptually valid theory of
development that was comprehensive of the whole life of a nation.

The failure of this approach to meet the high expectations of the
period invariably led to faulting the inadequate, corrupt or insincere political will of
the leaders and institutions of government around the world. The assumption that
government was in fact capable and competent to carry out this task was rarely questioned.
Lack of political will became the ultimate scapegoat for all our failings. Recent
experience as well as a historical perspective of development as a social process both
suggest that government is at best a very inadequate instrument for development. While the
waging of war can be carried out on behalf of society by a specially trained and highly
motivated military, the task of national development requires the training and
enthusiastic participation of the entire society, which cannot be accomplished by a
centralized bureaucracy. No government can on its own strength and initiative develop a
nation. Disillusionment with government is perhaps an inevitable reaction to the earlier
illusion. The collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and move to deregulation in
many developing countries are products of this disillusionment. But the real lesson of
these changes is not the supremacy of one economic system over another. It is the
realization that political will and governmental action never was or could be adequate to
the task of national development. Only the will of society, which is reflected in the will
of democratic governments and can be educated and called forth by its initiatives, has the
power to transform the society.

The primary failing was not the inadequacy of governments, however much
they may merit that attribution, but rather the inadequacy of our understanding of the
development process. The need today is for theory, policies and strategies that embody
these lessons. We need strategies that more effectively harness the capacities that
government does possess as a catalyst to direct and channel the will of society for more
rapid progress. Our concept of development as an initiative by government through
bureaucratic administration of sectoral programs must be replaced by a theory, policy and
practice that view society as the center of initiative and social forces as the main
instrumentation.

Economic development strategy emphasizes the strengthening of social
capacity by building up physical infrastructure, production facilities and commercial
organizations and by creating a conducive environment for increasing economic activity
through appropriate laws, fiscal, monetary and trade policies. Human development
strategies focuses primarily on improving the welfare and capacities of the individual
through better health, education, political choice and economic opportunity. Together they
encompass the two basic components of all development--micro and macro, personal and
institutional, individual and collective.

The individual and the collective are two sides of human existence and
the same laws hold true for both. The development of individual behavior to form
personality and of collective behavior to create social organization are parallel
processes. The challenge is to simultaneously develop the capacities and utilize the
potentials of both in a complementary manner. For the individual, development involves
acquisition of greater knowledge and understanding, new attitudes and behaviors, values,
skills, capacities and talents. For the collective, development involves establishment of
more useful and productive institutions, systems and organizations. The 20th Century has
been one of unprecedented achievements in science and technology. It has also been a
century of unprecedented creativity and accomplishment in the fashioning of more effective
social systems and institutions combining to form an ever more complex and integrated
global organization of human activity. The development of organization has given birth to
a vast array of new social institutions whose aim is to support virtually every type of
human activity--political, economic, social, educational, scientific and cultural.

Development is the process of the human mind seeking higher levels of
accomplishment by expressing itself through higher levels of skills and more effective
social institutions. It is the processof individuals and societies
progressively discovering, developing and expressing more and more of their creative and
productive potentials and utilizing those potentials to respond creatively and dynamically
to challenges and opportunities in the external environment by learning new skills,
fashioning new institutions, inventing new technologies and initiating new activities that
lead to higher productivity, welfare and well-being. It is essentially a psychological and
social process of increasing awareness, knowledge, energy, skill and organization that
manifests externally in terms of the quality of our material existence.

Development takes place at several levels:

o Physically, it leads to acquisition of skill and technology.

o Socially, it leads to the establishment of systems and institutions.

o Mentally, it leads to the formulation of knowledge and education.

o Culturally, it leads to the acceptance and expression of higher
values.

There are three essential components of this process: mental, social
and physical. Man knows, organizes and expresses himself.

Unlike material resources which are diminished the more they are
exploited, the more this human potential is developed and utilized, the greater it
becomes. No longer are material limits the primary obstacles to our progress. The
major problems facing humanity--poverty, unemployment, pollution, violence and crime--are
made by people and they can be solved by people. They are problems of human development
that can be solved by changes in our understanding, institutions and behavior.

Development is a product of the human imagination formulating new
ideas, new activities, new goals to accomplish and then releasing and directing its
energies to achieve them. There is no final goal to be achieved, no end to the process, no
limit to its capabilities.

"But with information now the dominant resource, the most
important factor that limits expansion of work is not land or raw material or capital
equipment or transportation, but the ultimate components of dynamism: science, technology,
values and social organization--in a word, the human imagination."

The process of development is kindled by isolated pioneering acts of
individuals, institutions and social groups. As these new activities come to be accepted
and supported by the society, they spread slowly or swiftly and are gradually taken up by
more and more people. The movement culminates in a self-generating, self-multiplying
dynamism that keeps expanding horizontally and vertically until it saturates the society
at one level. New technology, spread of education, new systems such as hire purchase and
franchise, new institutions like fast food and courier services all develop in this
manner.

The fundamental driving force for this process is the awakening and
release of social energies expressing as new ideas, new attitudes, new beliefs, new
institutions, new activities and new products. The key to the movement is that the new
activity must appeal to the current social aspirations of the people. The release of
social energies is stimulated by a greater awareness of opportunities and challenges,
particularly by awareness of the successful practices of other individuals and societies.
Successful initiatives of pioneers are observed and imitated by others when their actions
enable them to achieve some socially valued goal or status. A stage comes when society
decides to encourage imitation of the new behavior by creating systems or institutions to
support it. At a later stage, the knowledge and skill needed for the activity is
incorporated in the training which parents give to their children or in school curricula.

Experience shows that even when all the enabling external conditions
have been met, development does not occur unless along with opportunity there is also an
awareness, understanding and aspiration that can be fulfilled by a change in economic
behavior. In the 1950s the government built a hundred new high schools in rural towns
throughout South India to promote education, but the population was not yet aware or
convinced of the value of education, so very few parents enrolled their children and most
of the schools were closed or later converted into primary schools. The population failed
to respond to this opportunity because it had not yet come to recognize the importance of
education. Two decades later every school was filled to overflowing and demand exceeded
supply. The real gap was social, not material.

The key questions for formulating effective development strategies are:
How to generate greater awareness that releases positive social energies for greater
accomplishment? How to create the appropriate organization to channel these social
energies efficiently and effectively? How to impart the skills needed by the individual to
benefit from the new activity? This approach leads to emphasis on strategies that directly
increase the quantity and quality of information, understanding, motivation, skill,
productive systems and social organization. These are the key levers of development.

The necessary change in perspective can be summarized in the following
manner:

From

To

o Unconscious growth based on trial and error
experience.

o Conscious development based on an understanding
of the process.

o Development as status and goal.

o Development as dynamic process.

o Political will expressing through government
programs as the prime mover.

o Social will expressing through social initiative as the main
driving force.

The conventional view that development is essentially a function of
scarce economic inputs is giving way to the perception that the opportunities and
potentials for rapid development far exceed actual achievements in every country. Looking
back over the past few decades, we realize that the speed of social progress could
certainly have been much greater than it was. This is especially obvious in less developed
countries and at lower levels of society where there is a large visible gap between social
opportunities (educational, technological, entrepreneurial, etc.) and individual pursuit
of them.

The tremendous potential for accelerating development is most easily
illustrated by instances in which actual achievements substantially excelled expectations,
such as the enormous leap in Indian agriculture during the late 1960s. At a time when
India had to import massive quantities of foodgrains on an emergence basis to avoid
widespread famine, the Indian government proclaimed the goal of achieving complete
self-sufficiency in foodgrains and launched its Green Revolution program. Contrary to the
prediction by an expert international team that the countrys foodgrain production
would rise by a maximum of only a ten per cent over the coming seven years, it actually
increased by 50 per cent in five years and 100 per cent in a decade. Chinas
phenomenal growth of incomes, employment and exports over the last decade is an equally
astonishing achievement.

These unforeseen and unexpected accomplishments reflect the magnitude
of potentials that these countries possessed but had not previously utilized. Every
country possesses untapped potentials of this magnitude waiting to be uncovered. The same
is true of the most advanced industrial nations, even though there are no more advanced
countries to point to for purposes of comparison. As a nation develops, the unutilized
potentials continue to develop also in proportion to that accomplishment. That is the
meaning of human resourcefulness. Were this not the case, humanity would have exhausted
its potentials long ago.

The world today possesses an enormous reservoir of unutilized human
skills and capacities, proven technology, practically valuable information, untapped
markets, underdeveloped resources, legal expertise, and administrative and organizational
know-how. We now know that it is possible to produce all the food needed to support many
times the current population of the world without any soil at all and with only a small
fraction of the water now expended on food production. Similarly, our industrial
production systems are capable of producing in such large volumes that many countries
could produce the entire worlds requirement of one or more essential products.
Medical technology makes it possible to eradicate many types of disease that are still
prevalent. Yet famine, poverty and high mortality rates continue to exist. Many societies
are still unable to utilize the available resources sufficiently to meet even minimum
needs. No society has demonstrated the capacity to utilize these resources fully for
maximum benefit.

A huge surge in development can be achieved if every socially available
resource and potential is fully utilized by the people--if every capable youth, male
and female, continues education up to the level of their highest aptitude; if every family
employs all the health care knowledge and best practices known by the society; if every
government self-employment program and training program is fully utilized; if all known
technology for improving agriculture is widely publicized and put to practice. The highest
priority must be to evolve strategies for utilizing these vast social resources more
effectively.

The untapped resources of the society can be categorized under several
headings:

o Development oriented laws, policies and programs that can be more
fully implemented.

The magnitude of this potential can be illustrated by a single example
of food production in India. Table I compares Indias average yields on major crops
with the world average and the worlds highest yielding producer.

Crop

India

Average Yield (Kg/Ha)

World
Average

(Kg/Ha)

Highest Average
Yielding Country

(Kg/Ha)

Rice

2,576

3,581

8,843

Maize

1,474

3,527

8,500

Wheat

2,226

2,441

7,447

Soybean

868

1,832

3,188

Proven technology already exists within India capable of raising the
countrys average yields well above the world average for each of these crops,
whatever the physical and financial constraints that may exist. The real limiting factors
are inadequate dissemination of information about best practices and success stories,
inadequate skills in employing these methods, inadequate organizational arrangements for
marketing and processing, as well as out-moded policies and attitudes about the food
self-sufficiency and the role of agriculture in the national economy. These factors all
relate directly to the understanding, motivation, skill and organization in the
agricultural sector. They are the very same factors which were tapped in the mid 1960s to
launch Indias Green Revolution. Since then technology has improved, the population
has become more educated, market demand is greater, commercial systems and institutions
are more dynamic.

To document the validity of this approach and illustrate the existence
of these potentials, ICPF recently conducted a study of agricultural potentials in India.
The conclusion of that study was that India has the potential to double its annual growth
rate in agriculture, utilizing this sector as an engine to drive the growth of the whole
economy and to create sufficient job opportunities to raise its entire population above
the poverty line by the year 2000. The strategy seeks to achieve these goals by tapping
underutilized social resources--information, organization, technology, and skills.

The first part of this report has presented the elements of a
comprehensive theory of development as a social process. The second part applies these
principles by examining the scope, need and benefits of utilizing human social resources
more fully and effectively to accelerate development in developing and developed countries
as well as Eastern European nations and the international community. The objective of this
section is to illustrate the types of strategies that issue from the perspective presented
in part one. More specific and detailed recommendations will be presented in part three,
which has not yet been completed.

Gradients of Development

Measures and indices help us conceive and quantify possibilities. As
comparison of more developed and less developed societies or a comparison of a rapidly
growing society over time reveals a clear scale of progression in terms of economic growth
indices and UNDPs Human Development Index, a similar progression can be observed in
the utilization of social resources described above--awareness, knowledge, information,
skill, organization, technology, etc. Increasing the utilization of any of these resources
leads to the development of the society. Comparing the status of these resources in
different societies helps us identify the scope for imitation and further improvement.

Knowledge stimulates development. The rapid dissemination of
information in modern society makes possible a more rapid transformation of society.
President Gorbachev understood the transforming power of knowledge when he proclaimed his
policy of glasnost, opening up the cloistered Soviet society to events in the outer world,
creating widespread awareness of the alternative approaches and achievements of other
nations, releasing the people's aspiration for a better life and giving scope for the
expression of their pent-up energies. Knowledge brought down the Berlin Wall, ended the
Cold War and ushered the world into a new era.

Knowledge of opportunities and potentials is an essential ingredient, a
catalyst, of the development process. In the past, development strategies have tended to
place too little emphasis on the power of public awareness to release people's energies
and initiative on a massive scale. The vast accumulation of knowledge and new technologies
for rapid dissemination of information that the world possesses today can be utilized to
increase the speed of change, eliminate many false starts and wrong turns and much
unnecessary suffering. The speed and extent of knowledge transfer are far from optimal
between and within nations--even within industrially advanced nations--due to lack of
information, out-dated attitudes and beliefs, lingering superstitions, and conventional
wisdom.

Developing Countries

Ignorance and skepticism about new opportunities are characteristic of
development at each stage and in every field of activity. Developmental opportunities
exist but are very often not exploited because of insufficient or wrong information.
Conventional wisdom, tradition and superstition retard acceptance of new ideas. Teak wood
is a high value, high profit crop, traditionally grown in hilly areas of South India. For
decades farmers refused to believe that it could be grown commercially at sea level.
Recently some enterprising companies established large scale teak plantations as an
investment scheme for the urban middle class and suddenly the crop is being planted over
large areas.

Information about success stories spur people to action. In South India
coconut was traditionally grown as a plantation crop without addition of water or manure.
When one pioneering entrepreneur started irrigating and fertilizing his trees, people in
the community laughed. When his yields increased ten-fold, every local farmer started
imitating his example. Yet information travels slowly in developing countries. In one
cashew growing area, farmers achieve eight times higher yields by irrigating and
fertilizing the trees. Amazingly, just ten miles away farmers believe it is just a rumor
and refuse to imitate this practice, because it has not been presented to them by a
credible source of information.

It is a common experience in developing countries that after years of
inaction, new activities can suddenly catch on like wild fire. Although the technology had
been popular in the West for more than a decade, in 1975 it was not possible to find a
photocopy shop in New Delhi. Three years later there were more than 20 photocopy shops on
a single street in the center of the capital. By 1981 instant copy businesses could be
found in almost every rural town. This advancement occurred after one pioneering
entrepreneur introduced the first machine. The example of the pioneer broke through an
invisible social barrier and became a catalyst of change throughout the country.

Enormous potentials are waiting to catch the attention of the society
and take off at this moment. Proven technology exists in many fields that await
application because people do not know or do not believe that it can be employed
successfully. Imitation of intensive aquaculture methods commonly employed by farmers in
Taiwan and Singapore can raise average fish yields in South Asian, African and Latin
American countries 25-fold. Advanced methods for micro nutrient management can double or
quadruple fruit and vegetable yields in most developing countries. A complete list of
proven but untapped technologies and commercial opportunities can be compiled for each
country, each region and local area. Programs can be initiated to publicize information
about these potentials, to demonstrate their successful application, to encourage
entrepreneurs and to foster healthy imitation.

Often the information is already known, but it is not supported by
convincing evidence. Twenty years ago, Nobel prize winning economist Arthur Lewis wrote
about the power of agricultural development to spur industrialization. Yet his idea did
not gain full credibility in India until an ICPF study demonstrated statistically that an
emphasis on commercial agriculture and agro-based industry could stimulate creation of 100
million new jobs in India during the next ten years, sufficient to achieve near full
employment. Converting a known idea into a statistic increases its impact on the educated
population.

What is true of economic or commercial opportunities is also true of
health, education, environment, government and management. Abundant potential exists for
upgrading performance in all these fields through dissemination of reliable, appropriately
packaged information by a credible source. Government departments, universities and
scientific organizations are usually not well-equipped for this purpose. Non-governmental
field agencies do perform this role for specific types of information in a local area or
region. The acceptance of new information depends very much on the perceived credibility
of the source. In developing countries, the government is often the only agency with the
prestige and credibility to educate public opinion. In more educationally advanced
nations, the opinions of expert individuals and institutions have greater influence. But
everywhere, public opinion is reluctant to abandon its present convictions. Even
scientists tend to accept only what comes from a prestigious person or institution.

The media can play an invaluable role in disseminating relevant
information to the public. Education has dramatically increased the percentage of the
population reading newspapers and periodicals. Radio reaches everywhere and TV coverage is
rapidly being extended to outlying rural areas. But in order to fully utilize the media as
an instrument for development, the type and quality of information being carried in most
developing countries must be radically improved. There is need for establishment of
specialized agencies, perhaps in the form of public foundations or research institutions,
with the capacity, independence and credibility to research and project information about
unutilized technological, organizational, educational and commercial potentials that can
spur development. The functions of these agencies would be:

o to identify critical gaps in information needed to stimulate
development in various fields.

A modest investment of this type can accelerate adoption of new
activities, magnify the response to government programs, and double the total
developmental achievements of a country over the next five years.

Eastern Europe

The populations of the countries of Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union are highly educated but long deprived of free access to information. Recent
economic reforms have dramatically increased the importance of information in the
functioning of the economy. Under the old command system, a few people in Moscow took
decisions which millions of Soviet citizens carried out. When scientific research
indicated that plowing back rice straw enriched yields, a central decision was taken to
adopt the practice on farms throughout the country. But now that the command system has
been abolished and the members of each state and collective farm are legal owners and
decision-makers, millions of individuals participate in making economic decisions.

A shortage of information about economic principles, commercial
opportunities and successful practices outside the country is a severe limitation to
development. When a team of visiting economists tried to explain that smaller size farms
could be operated more efficiently, Russian farm managers and economists cited the example
of large corporate American farms as principle evidence to refute this argument, unaware
that the average farm in the U.S. is only one-hundredth the size of the average Russian
state farm. The macro economic reforms introduced to free prices and legalize private
property cannot generate the desired results, unless the population is also given easy
access and exposure to a very wide range of essential information on new technologies,
legal reforms, trade potentials, self-employment opportunities and modern management
practices. The plethora of new laws, regulations and deregulations being enacted in these
countries has the population baffled and bewildered regarding what is now legal or
illegal, acceptable or impermissible. During the past year alone the Russian government
has enacted 40 new laws relating to the field of agriculture, of which most people,
including the principal beneficiaries, are either ignorant or confused. The transition of
these nations can be significantly accelerated by systematic dissemination of economically
important information to the rural population regarding potentials in agriculture,
industry, technology, commerce, management and law. Similar efforts are required in urban
areas and in other fields such as politics, public administration, international
relations, education, social institutions and health.

Educating Public Opinion in the Industrialized Nations

Even in the information-rich West, where the average citizen is
overwhelmed by a continuous barrage of ideas, opinions and so-called 'facts' of varying
accuracy and credibility from myriad sources, there is a need for more reliable
information. This superabundance conceals gaping holes of ignorance. American foreign
policy toward the USSR in the 1980s was certainly influenced by the fact that, as recently
as 1988, more than 50% of Americans believed the Soviets fought against the United States
in World War II. The irrational alarm which economists sounded in the late 1970s about the
impact of inflation on the poor in the U.S. overshadowed compelling evidence published by
a leading economic institution that poorer Americans were actually better off and it was
primarily the rich who were less advantaged by the price rise. Current debate on the issue
of foreign aid to Eastern Europe is complicated because too few Americans understand how
the Marshall Plan stimulated the growth of Western Europe and the U.S. economy in the
1950s. Attitudes toward the future of trade relations and the need for protectionism are
colored and complicated by a lack of understanding of the extent to which the entire world
economy benefits from an open trade regime. This ignorance and confusion powerfully affect
public attitudes and perceptions within countries and, thus, the quality of domestic and
foreign policy.

The industrialized nations excel in the dissemination of information on
economic and commercial issues. Even here there is considerable scope for increasing
awareness in areas such as self-employment opportunities, the linkage between education
and career development, management practices, foreign trade opportunities, etc. The debate
in North America over NAFTA is obscured by lack of clear information regarding its impact
on the countries involved. The importance of continuous investment in training is often
ignored by all but the most advanced corporations. Quality and service have only recently
gained recognition as critical factors in business success, while other important
ingredients are still neglected.

As economic development advances, society gives increasing importance
to progress on other social issues and to the psychological growth of the individual. This
transition has been gaining momentum in the West since the 1960s. Drugs, crime, ethnic and
race relations, environment, health, education, child care, and the life of the elderly
are increasingly sources of public concern. Ignorance and superstition demoralize the
population and make effective social action difficult in these areas. Revolutionary
techniques in early child education have been ignored in the West for decades due to
superstitions regarding the proper age for children to learn how to read, despite the
testimony of hundreds of thousands of parents that preschool children can learn language,
reading and math skills much faster, easier and more enjoyably than older students and
that the process can strengthen parent-child relationships, foster a love of learning,
dramatically raise IQ scores, and improve the social and psychological adjustment of the
child. Research indicates that as much as 90% of illness in the West is psychosomatic in
origin. An effective program of public education covering prevention and treatment of
these disorders could significantly reduce the incidence, eliminating much personal
suffering and saving billions of dollars.

Society is changing more rapidly than ever before. Development
generates real tensions in the society from consequences that we do not anticipate when
the changes are taking place. The liberation of women from confinement to the traditional
roles of mother and housewife through education and entry into the work force is directly
linked to social problems arising from the breakdown of the family. The greater respect
and freedom for the individual in society which coincides with a shift away from
authoritarian behaviors has resulted in a breakdown in discipline as well. The gap between
the new values and old methods leads to friction and confusion. People try to resolve the
tensions generated by development in old ways that are no longer effective, e.g. using
authority where education is required. These problems can be minimized by educating the
public to understand the changes taking place and to adopt appropriate new behaviors.
Sources of tension in society related to pollution, youth, the aged and crime can also be
mitigated in this way.

Impact of Information on Global Issues

The need for information is even greater at the international level,
where there are innumerable opinions and prejudices but far too few facts and no real
models for the world community to emulate or imitate in its unconscious groping toward a
new world order. In the emerging world, more and more it is public opinion rather than
government authority that sets the direction for social change. Internationally, public
opinion is an even more important determinant, since the authority of global institutions
is still quite limited.

The revival of nationalistic sentiments and racism around the world is
directly counter to the movement toward unification we see taking shape in Western Europe.
Unbridled nationalism--which usually feeds on a short-sighted perception of immediate
advantage and ignores the far greater long-term benefits of association--threatens
national integrity and regional stability in Canada, India, Russia, Yugoslavia and many
other countries and impedes progress toward regional cooperation and global governance.
The republics of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia are today reeling under the
unexpected shock of economic disunion. Too little thought was given to quantifying and
publicizing the gains and losses from the fragmentation of states and the long term impact
on economic growth and living standards. Today the industrialized nations are ignorant to
what extent their economic malaise is the result of economic decline in Eastern Europe.
Policy makers and citizens in the West are equally unaware of how important accelerated
growth in developing countries, which represent huge untapped sources of unsatisfied
demand, is to future growth in their own countries, where demand is becoming more and more
saturated.

Superstitious fears of inflation have become so prevalent
internationally that the direct relationship between increasing social value of the
individual and rising prices is completely overlooked. Development raises social
aspirations and expectations and prompts the individual to want and demand a greater
return for his labor. When the farm laborer is no longer willing to work all day for a
subsistence level wage and the factory worker insists on owning a house or a motor
scooter, regardless of whether or not their productivity has increased, then prices rise
and the economic value of the worker relative to other factors and the social value of the
individual rise too. Blind insistence on inflation fighting and budget balancing can
significantly retard development, as it has in many developing countries that
unquestioningly accept the superstition. Educating the public to understand the causes and
possible benefits of moderate levels of inflation and debt is a prerequisite for more
intelligent public policy initiatives by government.

Myriad international negotiations on debt, trade, aid and the
environment are complicated by the absence of any clear vision or consensus as to the type
of future world economy we are striving to evolve and the opportunities that greater
economic integration will generate for all nations to further improve their standard of
living. The international economic and financial institutions are so focused on current
issues that too little thought is given to the emerging potentials, likely composition and
optimal structure for the world economy in the coming century. There is, for example, no
comprehensive model of the global economy, world trade or world labor markets that can
reliably indicate the likely results of alternative policies at the international level.
Very often these institutions are compelled to endorse policies favored by member states,
rather than those justified by impartial analysis.

The international information gap has been partially filled by the work
of international commissions, institutions and non-governmental agencies. But the need and
the untapped potential are still great. Most of these organizations focus on narrow or
short-term issues. They cannot be expected to provide the breadth of vision and
perspective needed to set new directions for the world community. However thorough their
research or objective their analysis, they usually lack the credibility to carry
conviction with various interest groups.

There is need to significantly strengthen international efforts with
the assistance of leading thinkers:

o to evolve a vision of what the world will be like in 2025, 2050 and
2100 and to identify steps that can be taken now to accelerate development toward
fulfillment of that vision decades sooner.

o to examine current problems and potentials at the international level
and project appropriate views, facts, perspectives needed to educate world leaders and
international and national public opinion to deal effectively with the issues.

o to commission studies by experts to obtain facts where they are
wanting, compile statistical evidence where arguments alone are not convincing, and evolve
solutions where they are needed. The studies can be directed to meet information needs at
the level of leaders in politics, economics, business, and education and of the general
public at the national and international level.

o to project the findings and recommendations on key issues
through press statements, articles and published reports.

o to compile bluebooks of essential information for people in different
positions and levels--ambassadors, businessmen, government leaders, etc.

The march of humanity is marked by the development of wider and higher
organizations. Society supports new activities and encourages people to imitate the
achievements of pioneers by establishing new institutions, organizations, systems, laws
and policies. These organizations harness the awakened energies of the society and direct
them for productive pursuits. Society continuously advances in its capacity to
fashion ever more efficient and effective types of organization. The establishment of new
and innovative social institutions has been an especially important ingredient in global
progress during the post-war period. These institutions, both public and private, serve
society in an incredibly wide range of functions: commercial, financial, industrial,
export, research, educational, training, health and recreation. They enable society to
encourage, support, standardize, regulate and control certain activities by
institutionalizing them.

The magnitude and complexity of the organization that supports
development cannot be understood by looking at the macro level. It is best seen by a
minute examination of the processes by which the society carries out small, routine
activities. Society consists of a miraculous web of accepted systems, conventions, habits,
and customs that govern the way it operates--like the laws and practices that govern the
flow of high speed automobile traffic on busy thoroughfares and through complex
intersections. The sophistication and effectiveness of this web depends on the knowledge,
attitudes and skills of countless individuals and on the procedures and institutions that
have been established to govern their interaction. These are the fundamental building
blocks of development.

Social systems are the established procedures and accepted mechanisms
by which society conducts its activities. Systems play an equally important role in
releasing and supporting social dynamism. But because they are not as visible as
institutions, their importance is often neglected. Thousands of such systems have been
fashioned by human resourcefulness to support development in different fields. As the
system of mortgage has enabled a majority of middle class Americans and Europeans to
purchase their own homes, the road transport industry in India grew exponentially in the
1970s because the hire or lease purchase system made it possible for many small
entrepreneurs to purchase buses and lorries and pay for them out their future earnings.
The system of franchising has led to a rapid proliferation of new businesses in many
countries. The credit rating system enables companies and individuals to purchase goods
and services on credit terms, thereby geometrically expanding the volume of commerce. The
Yellow pages or classified business listings enable customers to easily locate the
products and services they require. Systems for standardization of product quality protect
the consumer and prompt people to buy more. The system of warehouse receipts enables
American grain traders to purchase unseen crops with full confidence in their quality. The
absence of this simple system retards trade on the recently established commodity markets
in Russia and other CIS countries.

The combination and coordination of systems creates higher order
potentials that neither of the separate systems possess in themselves. The combination of
computers and telecommunications has launched a worldwide revolution in information,
communication, transportation, financial services, marketing, industrial production,
scientific research, education, defense and other fields. The linking of franchising with
lease purchase enables many more entrepreneurs to go into business for themselves with
ready-made products, services, marketing outlets, advertising programs and customer base.
The possible permutations and combinations are endless and so is the potential
productivity they can generate.

Organization is an limitless resource for development that determines
the productivity and harmony of relationship and interaction between people, systems,
institutions and activities. As the last century has unleashed the powers of
physical technology, in the next humanity must master the technology of organization.

Developing Countries

New institutions lie behind the success of most major development
achievements. Indias Green Revolution was as much as product of new quasi
governmental institutions as it was of new farm technology. The Food Corporation of India
was established to provide farmers with a guaranteed market and remunerative price for
their surplus production and to distribute the surpluses in food deficit regions. The
Fertilizer Corporation was set up to ensure availability of the chemicals essential for
higher yields. Seed corporations were responsible for producing and distributing the new
hybrid seeds. Warehousing Corporation build and managed the storage facilities needed to
house the large increase in grain production. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research
became the apex body to coordinate agricultural research and educational activities in the
country. In a similar manner, Indias dairy revolution was made possible by the
establishment of the National Dairy Development Board which acted as an apex body to
assist the establishment and coordinated functioning of tens of thousands of local
cooperatives owned by ten of millions of tiny scale milk producers. Many developing
countries have established specialized agencies to promote industry and foreign
trade--industrial estates and industrial investment corporations, export-import banks,
export promotion councils, export processing zones and the like.

Thirty years ago government was the only agency capable of investing
and managing activities on so massive a scale. Today the society is more developed and
mature and many of these functions are now handled more efficiently in the private sector.
The main issue is not whether new institutions should be owned and operated by government
or by the private sector. That varies from country to country according to the stage of
development. The key is to identify the institutional gaps that retard more rapid
development in different fields and take steps to fill these gaps either by creatively
adapting institutional models that have proved successful elsewhere or by inventing new
forms appropriate to specific conditions. Whatever the model chosen, it will be successful
only in the measure it is linked to the social urge of the population and helps channel
the social energies more effectively than before.

Wherever a country fails to live up to its natural potentials, some
such institutional gap will be present. In examining the potentials of commercial
agriculture and agro-exports in India, ICPF identified critical missing links in the field
of horticulture which prevented the exploitation of the countrys natural competitive
advantage in fruit and vegetable production. In most instances tiny scale producers sell
their produce locally for marginal profit, because they lack the organizational and
managerial capabilities to arrange for storage, processing and distribution and marketing
of perishable commodities. Low profit margins during peak season discourage expansion of
the area under cultivation. Recently the State of Maharashtra took steps to supply the
necessary institutional infrastructure by establishing a complete chain of cooling,
handling and distribution facilities linking the rural areas with urban and export
markets. Government efforts have been quickly multiplied by private enterprise leading to
a dramatic growth in high value added farm output, rural employment and food exports.

Imitation and extension of proven systems to new fields and areas can
significantly magnify the benefits of development. The system of registered crops has been
successfully employed by Indias sugar mills for decades to contract out sugarcane
production to small farmers and provide a guaranteed price and market for their crop along
with credit facilities and inputs to assist cultivation. The extension of this system to
fruits, vegetables and flower crops can stimulate a rapid increase in their production.

Chinas phenomenal achievements in rural enterprise and employment
generation were made possible by the establishment of a new type of institution--the
township and village industries. Over the past decade, thousands of these privately owned
and managed enterprises have been set up. A unique system has been forged to provide these
enterprises close linkages with scientific institutions to provide for the transfer of
improved production technologies. These enterprises now represent 16.5 percent of all
businesses in China and employ 22 percent of the total workforce.

What India has done for foodgrains and milk production and China has
done for rural industry can be done by every state and every country to promote
development in different sectors. A comparative study of institutions and systems in more
and less developed regions and countries for every major sector will make it possible to
construct accurate scales and reliable road maps for more rapid development.

Eastern Europe & CIS

The crucial importance of institutions is clearly evident in the
countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union which are in the process of
establishing market economies. These countries already possess highly educated and skilled
work forces and relatively sophisticated industrial infrastructure. But most of the social
institutions that served under the centralized command system need to be transformed out
of recognition or entirely replaced in order to support a market oriented
system--commodity and stock exchanges, credit and collection agencies, land and mortgage
banks, producers cooperatives and buying groups, wholesale marketing organizations
and distributorships, securities brokers and regulators, commercial law and tax accounting
firms, medical insurers and pension funds, management training and consulting firms, trade
and professional associations, private television and radio networks, public power
utilities and private telecommunication corporations.

The effort for economic reform in these countries has focused primarily
on changing laws and public policy. The task of revamping the institutional infrastructure
needed to support a market economy has received far too little attention. Russia is in the
process of encouraging large scale privatization of agriculture and creation of private
farms. Yet the country lacks even a rudimentary agricultural extension service to provide
individual farmers with technical and commercial information. Under the old system of
large state and collective farms, each farm could afford to have its own specialized
technical staff, so an extension system was not essential. Under the new system it will
play a critical role. Similar gaps exists in every field. The absence of these essential
institutions is largely responsible for the dramatic increase in illegal activities in
these countries. The recent success of the Polish stock exchange shows that the
establishment of these institutions need not take many years to accomplish. A complete
listing of essential institutions, small and large, should be compiled based on the
experience of other nations and plans drawn up for introducing them.

Industrialized Nations

Even in the most industrially advanced nations, new institutions are
continuously conceived and born. Rising environmental concern has led to the proliferation
of recycling and waste management organizations. The problem in urban poverty in the U.S.
has given rise to a variety of new institutions designed to promote entrepreneurship and
job opportunities, training, housing and community effort. Business incubators have proved
successful in promoting new businesses by providing small enterprises with affordable
office space, shared staff and equipment, and financial and marketing assistance.

The Atlanta Project is a highly innovative, non-governmental experiment
seeking to establish a new type of organizational setup for addressing inner city poverty.
The city has been divided into a number of districts. Major corporate sponsors and trained
project staff are assigned to work with citizens in each district to identify and evolve
solutions to the communitys most serious problems. Project staff then coordinate
their efforts with over 100 local, state and federal agencies. The eventual solution of
all the problems still plaguing society today will depend on the establishment of new or
better institutions and systems.

Organizing the Global Community

Thus far, the development of social organizations like the development
of technologies has been partial, piecemeal and sectoral, leaving large gaps between
parallel and interrelated activities and institutions. This is especially obvious today at
the international level where the organization of the collective social life of humanity
is fragmentary and rudimentary, though far more complete that it was a few decades ago.
Humanity has not yet been able to fashion a total organization truly suited to fulfill the
aspirations of the entire society.

In spite of the phenomenal growth in global communications,
transportation, commerce, finance and tourism, the fact remains that it is still more
difficult to carry out most activities internationally than it is domestically because the
international activities are not as well organized. Transfer of technology is a case in
point. Thousands of companies in developing countries are seeking information and
collaborations with corporate counterparts in developed nations, while at the same time
Western corporations are constantly in search of new collaborators and customers in
developing countries. Yet the search in both directions is largely by trial and error and
personal reference, because the field of technology transfer is not yet fully organized
the way commodity sales are organized in London and Chicago or global trade in flowers are
organized in the Netherlands, which handles 68% of world trade in cut flowers. Even within
and between developing countries, the absence of effective institutions and systems
retards transfer of proven technology from the laboratory to the field or factory, from
one company to another, one country to another. The countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States possess valuable technologies which may be particularly suited to
applications in developing countries, but for want of an institutional mechanism, it is
difficult to find appropriate matches. Governments have proved to be inadequate mechanisms
for technology transfer, because they lack both the technical and commercial expertise and
the sense of urgency. International transfer of technology within and between developing
countries can be facilitated by establishing new institutions that function on commercial
lines and channel back the profits from technologies sales to support research activities
in developing countries.

Every unmet social need can be addressed through the fashioning of new
and more effective social institutions and systems. As society advances, much more can be
done in the private sector, by both for-profit and non-profit agencies. The failure of
centrally-planned and controlled economies does not contradict this view. The market
economy is as much dependent on systems, institutions and regulation as that of former
communist states. The main difference is that the market economies have been more
successful in fashioning organizational mechanisms that support rather than stifle human
initiative and creativity. The reaction against the lethargy, waste and impersonality of
bureaucratic organizations permeates every society today. Too often people have felt
oppressed by the social institutions that have been established to serve them. This should
not lead us to reject these incredible products of human resourcefulness. Rather it should
compel us to become more imaginative and innovative in adapting and adopting systems and
institutions to better serve the needs of the individual and the community.

The higher the level of development, the faster everything moves. The
more developed the society, the faster it communicates new ideas and new information,
develops new technologies and products, establishes new systems and institutions, adopts
new policies and laws, transports goods, delivers services and carries out activities.
Money, information, education, technology, public opinion, training, administrative
decisions, transport, communication are powerful social forces and resources. Their
productivity is directly proportionate to the speed with which they are employed. Like the
land that is utilized for only one cropping season a year when it is capable of yielding
two crops, slower movement and utilization of these resources is directly linked to the
overall productivity and development of society.

In the most industrially advanced nations, money circulates far more
rapidly than in less developed countries. Banking transactions, money transfers,
collection and reinvestment of funds occur more quickly. The velocity of money in the West
is roughly 2.5 to 3 times higher than in the average developing country. Increasing
velocity multiplies the use value and productivity of money. The industrialized nations
are constantly seeking to improve technology, management methods, systems and
organizations to further increase the velocity of money. The same is true for information,
technology, training, transport and other factors. Increasing the speed of dissemination
of information and new technology can accelerate the creation of new businesses and new
jobs.

In many developing countries, governments control and determine the
movement of these resources to a very large extent. Inefficient bureaucracies are slow to
take decisions, issue licenses, review applications, sanction loans, and amend
legislation. This inefficiency directly impacts on the pace of development, but because it
is difficult to measure, the extent of the losses it inflicts are seldom recognized or
addressed. Streamlining and expediting decision making and movement of social resources is
a highly effective strategy for spurring development. Comparative scales need to be
created to measure the movement of each of these social forces within and between nations.
Strategies can be evolved to stimulate more rapid overall development by directly
acting to increase velocity of these forces up to ten-fold or even more.

Ultimately it is skills that determine the productivity of
humanitys ideas, energies, institutions and technologies. No matter how brilliant
the idea, how excellent the organization or how advanced the technology, human skills
preside over the activity and determine the outcome. An enormous range and depth of
physical, technical, organizational, managerial and social skills are needed by society in
order to utilize the power of technology, institutions and systems to achieve concrete
developmental results. These skills admit of constant and continuous improvement without
limit in the same way that technology and organization can always be further improved. A
comparative survey of the level and quality of skills in any country with those of
countries above and below it on scales of economic and human development will reveal the
crucial role of skills in development. The phenomenal economic growth of Singapore, S.
Korea, and more recently Thailand are the direct result of the massive investments these
countries have made in upgrading the skills of the workforce. More than 50 percent of the
increase in productivity achieved by E. Asian countries over the past three decades is
attributable to investment in education and skills. A scale of progression on key skills
can help every country identify its relative position, assess the scope for further
progress and evolve strategies to fill the gap. Raise the skills of society to those of
countries higher up on the scale and the country will move to that position.

Developing Countries

In spite of the tremendous effort and investment that has gone into
upgrading skills in developing countries in recent decades, the true importance of this
resource is still vastly underestimated. Physical infrastructure, money and more recently
macroeconomic policy attract much greater attention and receive far higher priority. Yet
perhaps nothing can contribute more to stimulating development than greater investment in
upgrading the productive skills of the nation.

India, for example, has established an elaborate system of technical
education and training consisting of world class technology institutes at the top,
supported by engineering colleges, industrial training institutes and other training
facilities for basic technical skills. Yet today there is a huge shortage of quality
vocational skills among the huge number of people at lower levers of the society who seek
desperately to raise their standard of living. The export potential for Indian engineering
goods is severely constrained by a shortage of qualified tool and die makers. In most
regions even carpenters, electricians, masons and mechanics are in short supply, and where
sufficient number exists, quality work is difficult to find. The technical training
infrastructure is inadequate at the lower levels. Establishment of craft and vocational
training institutes at the local level in every community can impart a wide range of basic
technical skills to complete the hierarchy of technical institutes and saturate the
population with basic skills for development. At higher levels, large numbers of educated
unemployed coexist with commercial opportunities for which trained personnel are lacking.
A recent study estimated that software exports could provide employment for 200,000 Indian
engineers compared to only 7000 qualified persons who are presently available. A massive
program of basic vocational and skills training should be launched in every developing
country on a parallel with the 100% literacy programs that are now being promoted to wipe
out rural illiteracy. The military in many developing countries possesses the
organizational capabilities and experience with intensive training to assist with this
task.

The same institutional gap exists in agricultural training systems. In
India, agricultural colleges and universities train researchers, government and bank
employees, but not farmers. District level agricultural polytechnics train lower level
employees and do provide some training to farmers, but only a tiny fraction of what is
required. The T & V system has proved of limited success, perhaps because it lacks the
demonstration effect which made the Green Revolution so successful. The chain of
agricultural training can be filled out at the lower level by establishing thousands of
village level farm schools throughout the country. The farm schools should be located on
land leased from farmers for live training of educated farm youth. The students can learn
commercial farming techniques while being employed for pay at the school. The system would
require little investment, because qualified instructors could be required to utilize
improved methods to demonstrate higher levels of productivity on the leased lands and
utilize the income from cultivation to pay for the training activity.

Eastern Europe

The switch from a centrally planned to a market oriented economic
system cannot be successful until the population has acquired the skills needed to
function effectively in the new economic environment. Under the communist system, emphasis
was placed on education and training in technical subjects with little attention to
marketing, organizational, commercial and interpersonal skills, which are basic
requirements for functioning in a market economy. Skills in negotiation, legal analysis,
finance, advertising, selling, commercial design, pleasing customers, motivating
employees, just in time inventory, new product development are essential for competition
in the global market.

In Russia where private entrepreneurship was extinguished seventy years
ago, managerial, financial and marketing knowledge and skills are extremely limited. The
very concept of finding a need and filling it commercially is foreign to the mentality of
most people. The example of a Russian sweater manufacturer who wanted to export his
product for five times the domestic price, because he knew that sweaters sold in American
stores for that much indicates the magnitude of the change in mentality required to adjust
to the new system.

For most of these people, the last two years have brought more
political and social freedom than they ever bargained for and less economic opportunity
than they possessed under the old system. Their eagerness for a better future has been
frustrated by a lack of understanding, skills and concrete opportunities to improve their
standard of living. Those who can, including some of the finest talents in all fields, are
going overseas in search of opportunity. Those who cannot or will not leave are learning
to cope and some to succeed grandly. Scientists are converting research labs into
factories. Farm workers are becoming agri-businessmen. Those who speak foreign languages
are selling their translation skills for premium prices. Stopping the drain of talents and
achievement of international competitiveness depends on rapidly raising the commercial
skills of the work force.

A detailed inventory should be compiled of the types and levels of
skills needed for transition to the market, covering areas such as entrepreneurship,
management, national and international marketing, strategic business planning, finance,
quality control, product development, production technology, design, and human resource
development. Intensive training programs should then be introduced to impart these skills
on a massive scale to the people.

Industrialized Nations

The rapid introduction of new technology and the increasing demands of
global competitiveness place pressure on people in the most advanced industrial nations to
continuously improve their skills. In some countries, high levels of unemployment co-exist
with shortages of key skills due to the mismatch between the skills of the workforce and
the evolving needs of industry. Although much attention is given to this issue in the
Western media, there is still enormous scope for upgrading the skills of the work force in
developed countries. A recent study found that additional money spent by corporations on
training of their workforce can generate as much as a 30-fold return in terms of higher
worker productivity, yet training remains a vastly under-utilized resource even by large
corporations in the West. A comparison of the most talented and productive individuals
within any organization and of the most productive organizations with their less
productive counterparts will demonstrate that by any objective standards, the scope for
raising skills is still enormous.

The industrialized nations have lost confidence in their ability to
continue to improve the living standards of their people. Whatever the changes in
technology and life style that come about, they will most certainly demand ever higher
levels of skills from the active members of the workforce. The human species has proved
countless times in the past that our ability to learn and improve and raise our levels of
competence is not bound by the limitations of performance in the past. A commitment to
constantly improve the skills of our people is an essential investment for the continuous
development of human resourcefulness. Governments and private enterprise in developed
nations should intensify technical and vocational training programs to better equip their
workforce for competition in the next century.

The vast majority of new enterprises established in the industrialized
countries are small privately owned businesses. These companies have an extremely high
failure rate, primarily because their owners lack the managerial and commercial skills
needed for lasting success. Raising the success rate of this dynamic sector can be a
strong impetus to economic growth, and employment generation. Management skills such as
planning, budgeting, communicating, organizing work, decision-making and time management
are important for success in virtually every field of life. Management is as essential to
running a class room, hospital or family as it is to a company. Management training should
no longer be regarded as a specialized field primarily for business executives. Every high
school and college student should receive basic training in key management skills.

Education is the greatest known civilizing force and single most
powerful lever for human development. Training imparts skills, but education increases the
capacity of the individual at a more basic level. It makes the ordinary mind more active
and alert. It converts physical energy into mental energy. It trains the mind to consider
many possibilities, to see things from a new and wider perspective, to question and
challenge the status quo, to think and imagine, to innovate and invent, to make decisions
for oneself and to act on ones own initiative.

Education is the process by which society passes on the accumulated
knowledge and experience of countless centuries to new generations in a systematic,
concentrated and abridged form, so that todays youth can start their lives at the
high point of knowledge and wisdom attained by preceding generations. The individual and
the society acquire knowledge in a gradual, piecemeal manner as a result of countless
observations, life experiences, failed efforts and achievements. This process of learning
is largely subconscious or half conscious. We "learn" from experience and come
to "know" long before we are able to mentally formulate and conceptualize our
knowledge as theory and verbally communicate it to others. The conversion of subconscious
life experience into conscious, theoretical knowledge usually takes centuries. This
accumulated knowledge of the essence of accomplishment is a great power that can be
utilized to accelerate human development and abridge the time needed for society to arrive
at progressively higher levels of material, social and psychological fulfillment.
Education is the legacy of our forebears to our youth and the single most precious gift we
can offer to every citizen. Not until we have exhausted all conceivable steps to make this
invaluable resource available to everyone can we dare to say that we have done all we can
and should do.

Four Goals for Developing Countries

The very highest social priority should be given to four educational
goals in developing countries. First, there must be a massive effort to achieve
UNESCOs goal of eradicating illiteracy worldwide by the year 2000. Adult literacy
rates in the least developed nations still average less than 50% and are less than half
that level in a number of countries. Time alone will not eliminate this problem, because
illiteracy like poverty tends to perpetuate itself. Unless todays illiterates are
given assistance, a great many of their children will suffer from the same social
handicap. The problem can only be wiped out by an all out commitment of every national
government to eliminate the huge backlog of illiteracy while at the same time insuring
that every newly born child is taught to read and write. National youth service corps and
military personnel can be utilized to help provide the necessary manpower.

Second, literacy must be complemented by technicracy, education that
imparts basic technical information to the population through a variety of pedagogic
methods suited to the educational level of the recipients. This will require a vast
multiplication of basic technical institutions at the local level along the lines of the
farm schools and craft and vocational training institutes discussed above. While literacy
is highly desirable, it is not necessarily an essential prerequisite for learning
technical skills if appropriate methods are adopted.

Third, every possible step must be taken to provide education for
female children, who represent the future mothers of the next century and the most
important key to improving the health and living standards of those living in poverty. In
the poorest developing countries, literacy rates among females are 40% below rates for
males and the average number of years of schooling for females is 60% lower. While there
have been substantial gains in primary and secondary school enrollment for girls, it still
lags far behind the rates for male enrollment in many countries. Uneducated females
represent a huge reservoir of untapped human potential that must be given every
opportunity and full assistance to develop their innate capacities.

Development Education

Fourth, radical changes are needed in the content of school curricula
at all levels to make education relevant to the real needs of the students and the
development of the country. The society whose system of educated is integrated with the
social aspirations of the country will develop most rapidly. The system of education
prevalent in most developing countries is oriented toward the outer form, acquiring a
degree or qualifying certificate, rather than the inner content of knowledge. Education in
physical facts, scientific theories, technological applications and professional
disciplines gives the student the qualifications needed for salaried employment. The
information taught is very often unrelated or only distantly related to the actual needs
of people to be successful in an occupation or in social life. The problem of educated
unemployment in many developing countries is a direct result of a system that fosters
obedience and rote learning rather than individual initiative and creative thinking.

An educational system is needed that prepares the student to understand
the process of development taking place in the society. Educating students to understand
the dimensions and process of social change which the society is undergoing helps the
individual become aware of and respond to social opportunities. An understanding of this
process generates self-confidence and encourages the individual to seek out
self-employment opportunities rather than competing for scarce salaried jobs. The
introduction of Development Education in the school curricula can make the content of
education directly relevant to the needs of the country.

Development education can examine the entire field and history of human
social evolution based on the principles of development presented in part one. Every
subject, social institution and human accomplishment can be viewed from a developmental
perspective to understand how it evolved, what factors or forces shaped and propelled its
growth, how it influenced and was influenced by other developments. Students in developing
countries can draw particular benefit from examining the successes and failures of
developing countries over the past four decades as well as the experience of more
developed nations. Through this study, the student can come to understand the central
importance of ideas, attitudes, social values, institutions, systems and skills in human
progress. On the practical side, this education can examine the recent and current trends
in society--scientific, technological, commercial, industrial--that represent development
opportunities for the individual and the collective. The goal of development education
should be to equip the student with an understanding of his society, its achievements and
potentials, and the opportunities open to individuals to participate in its future growth.
The index of its success will be the extent to which students of this curriculum seek
self-employment rather than salaried jobs.

Education in Developed Nations

Two centuries ago it was simply inconceivable that every member of the
population in any country could or would receive even a minimum level of education. In
earlier periods, education was considered a luxury or privilege of the elite, rather than
a basic right of every individual. This revolutionary change has been brought about by the
universal recognition that education is absolutely essential for development of the
individual and the human collective. Few industrialized nations fully meet their own
present standards of minimum education for every citizen. Too many people still fall
through the gaps and fail to acquire the basics. In 1991 the high school dropout rate was
10.5 percent in the U.S. and nearly 30% among some minority groups. The present standards
set for the education of every citizen are not optimal levels, they are only minimums.
These minimums themselves are arbitrary. Evidence suggests that raising the minimum levels
of achievement further may be the most important initiative that governments can take to
prepare their citizens for a more productive, prosperous and peaceful future.

Education for the 21st Century

The knowledge communicated to posterity through formal education is the
theoretical knowledge which society has made fully conscious. Since this body of conscious
knowledge is the product of past experience, it can be effectively applied to deal with
situations which the society has already mastered through its past growth. Today society
is confronted by a host of problems--physical, environmental, political, social, economic
and psychological--for which it as yet possesses inadequate knowledge or solutions. We are
still seeking, still learning from experience how to cope with them. A survey of current
concerns and initiatives regarding ethnic and nationalistic strife, environmental
protection, unemployment, hunger, poverty, crime, drugs and over-population indicate areas
where our knowledge remains incomplete and at best partially effective. Knowledge in these
areas may be possessed fully by a few people or groups. But since it has not been
consciously formulated and accepted by society as a whole, it cannot be passed on to the
next generation through formal education.

The challenge to humanity is to evolve a system of education that can
effectively prepare our youth for life in the 21st century, when the conscious, formalized
knowledge of present day society is still inadequate to deal satisfactorily with all the
problems of the late 20th century. Is it possible to develop a form of education that will
not only prepare people to cope with the problems that have already been mastered by a
part or all of humanity, but also enable them to deal effectively with problems that are
as yet unresolved or unperceived? We believe that it is practically possible to fashion
such a system, because the necessary knowledge does already exist subconsciously in
society and consciously in a few individuals or social groups. We are calling for a
systematic effort to identify and "make conscious" the knowledge already
possessed by society but not yet transmitted through the educational system. There is
potential for accelerating and augmenting the dissemination of knowledge in society and
the resulting human development at least ten-fold. By such as effort, social
accomplishments that would otherwise take place over the span of a century or more can be
achieved in one or a few decades.

The primary goals of education are to endow the individual and society
with the capacity for physical accomplishment in life, psychological fulfillment and
mental understanding. Humanity seeks--

o Physically, to acquire mastery over the external environment to
achieve greater material comforts and conveniences.

But the general experience of humanity until now is that the
achievement at all these three levels is a best partial, temporary and subject to factors
beyond our control.

Physically, humanity still believes that there are external constraints
that place severe limits on our achievements. The world possesses the physical knowledge
needed to produce sufficient food and other material necessities for everyone. The
economic accomplishments of Western nations and more recently of East Asian countries
demonstrate that the knowledge does exist for achieving widespread prosperity. Their
success is based on attitudes of self-reliance, self-respect, and independence, a strong
work ethic, high levels of individual skills and organizational efficiency. But the
knowledge they possess is not yet a conscious possession of humanity as a whole that is
passed on to every individual, even in the most advanced nations. The knowledge required
for material prosperity, if consciously and systematically imparted through education, can
eradicate famine and poverty from the earth.

Commercially, bankruptcy is a common, ever present threat in business.
Most corporations believe that their survival and growth is fully dependent on external
economic conditions. Yet there are many well-documented instances of companies that have
survived and continued to grow for decades, even in the midst of severe depressions and
radical changes in market and technology. These corporations possess a knowledge of the
essential elements for sustained success that combines the ability to forge perfect
material systems with the enthusiastic vitality of a living organization. Certainly the
world does possess considerable knowledge about the conditions and processes that generate
organizational dynamism, vitality and growth. This knowledge, if consciously imparted
through education, can dramatically improve the performance of commercial organizations in
every country.

Socially, most people believe that their personal success depends on
family, circumstances, government, society, laws and other external factors and that in
life, success and failure inevitably alternate and accompany one another. While a great
many individuals struggle to achieve minimum levels of success, there are also many
average people who continuously rise to greater heights of social and material
achievement. Some even claim that with the knowledge and attitudes they possess, it is
possible for others to follow their example. The present educational system imparts
valuable knowledge of nature and social history, but it teaches very little of the
qualities and values needed for success and high personal achievement in life. Every
culture possesses the knowledge of the essential qualities necessary for lasting success,
but traditionally this knowledge has been passed on through the family. This knowledge has
not yet been consciously formulated and systematically imparted to the entire population
through formal education.

Psychologically, most people believe that human existence must be a
continuous oscillation between happiness and suffering that depends heavily on external
conditions and events. The youth of the 1960s revolted against the external social
establishment which they perceived as a major barrier to their freedom and happiness. But
the greatest constraints to human happiness are the psychological barriers--the inner
establishment--of inherited and acquired attitudes, characteristics and values. By
consciously acquiring the right attitudes, values and motives, it is possible for the
individual to attain a self-existent happiness and inner harmony which nothing can
disturb. This knowledge too can be consciously formulated and communicated through the
educational system of the 21st Century.

Mentally, our knowledge is both partial and biased. It is based on
unidimensional perspectives that seek to reduce complex realities to simple theorems.
Partial knowledge often produces immediate successes and long term problems and sometimes
results in dangerous consequences, such as the environmental imbalances generated by
application of powerful industrial technologies. In addition, our
"understanding" of economic, social, political and environmental problems is
based on beliefs, attitudes and selfish motives that are very far from rational. When
Galileo discovered the telescope, the clergy could declare it the devils instrument
by subjecting physical fact to the whims of current belief. Even today among the elite of
the worlds scientific community, what is admitted as knowledge" is based
more on social than rational considerations. As one world famous scientist put it,
"What is accepted within the scientific community depends on who says it, not on the
rationality of what is said." Material prosperity, social success and psychological
fulfillment cannot be based on a knowledge that is partial, unidimensional, ego-centric or
socially conditioned. True rationality and integral knowledge that bases itself purely on
fact unencumbered by selfish interests and social conformity can evolve technologies
without negative side effects and resolve existing conflicts without generating new ones.

Human fulfillment in the 21st Century depends on our ability to impart
a knowledge to our youth that will free them from the constraints and limitations of the
material, economic, social and psychological environment and enable them to acquire the
inner resourcefulness to achieve material prosperity, social success, psychological
harmony and mental objectivity. Formal education is the only social institution capable of
systematically imparting this knowledge to entire generations of people around the world.
Education must and can impart not only the material facts, but also the mental
perspectives, psychological attitudes, personal values, individual skills and
organizational abilities needed for full and rounded human accomplishment.

In different ages, the social aspiration expresses as the seeking after
specific social and material attainments. The social progress of a decade or a century
comes to be symbolized by these social, psychological, and material
attainments--aristocratic title, education, wealth, etc. Those aspiring for upward
mobility come to identify this achievement with specific outward signs and symbols, such
as fashions and social habits. Often a material object or "product" comes to
symbolize the whole social movement, the aspiration of the society. In earlier centuries,
the acquisition of land was the most important "product". Land bestowed both
material wealth and social prestige on the owner. Land gave rise to a landed aristocracy
and social rankings determined by one's position in relation to the king. Heredity social
status solidified the attainments of the aristocracy but led to feudal social stagnation.
Commerce opened up new avenues for the social aspiration of those excluded from the
aristocracy through world trade, foreign conquest and opportunities for individuals to
escape the confining limitations of a rigid social hierarchy. Gold and later money became
more mobile and transferable "products" of the last two centuries, symbolizing
in themselves all the other social attainments and bestowing social status on the
possessor.

The 20th Century is the age of the individual. The process in this
century has come to encompass the entire population and be symbolized by educational
achievements, job positions (rather than military or aristocratic rank) and commercial
products. The greatest commercial product of this century is the automobile. Ever since
Henry Ford first launched his car for the common man, the automobile has been the symbol
of rising expectations and upward social mobility, not only in the West but around the
world. The house, telephone, television and computer have played a similar role to varying
degrees.

Social growth is stimulated by seeking for products that can be
attained by the individual through socially approved forms of personal effort, such
as acquisition of higher education and more remunerative employment. Many products
serve this role for one or more layers of society to some extent. A few, like the car,
become comprehensive symbols. The product, in order to be comprehensive rather than
partial, should appeal to all levels of society, have material utility, have social
prestige, and determine the goals of and motivate the individual.

The aspiration to maintain or increase social prestige--for upward
social mobility--can be a more powerful stimulus to development than economic opportunity.
Prospering Indian villagers strain to purchase fancy clothes, wrist watches, refrigerators
and motor scooters, to send their children to English medium nursery schools, to perform
elaborate marriages and religious ceremonies as symbols of their increasing social status,
just as middle income Americans exceed their economic means to buy prestige cars,
time-share resorts and exotic vacations. Development strategies will be most effective
when they are linked to the acquisition of products that release social initiative.

In the most economically advanced nations, new "products" can
be identified that will release and channel social energies to achieve higher goals in the
next century. Education can play this role--not the form of education symbolized by the
degree, but the content of knowledge that raises the capacity of the human being and
increases his ability to achieve personal satisfaction.

The development of civilization over several millennia has produced
extraordinary achievements in science, technology, social institutions and material
prosperity. Education and culture represent the summit of this development. The
relationship between culture and development is a subject of intense controversy.
Experience in some places shows that cultural traditions can be a substantial barrier to
rapid progress, whereas in others cultural factors seem to propel the development process.
Much of the controversy is resolved when we distinguish between the external forms and
behaviors associated with particular cultures and the inner content of values that informs
and supports these external expressions.

Societies differ widely in their external forms and norms of behavior,
i.e. the language, dress, fashions, arts, customs and habits surrounding family life,
economic, social and religious activities. Different forms of identity, behavior and
expression come to be associated with different classes, castes and ethnic groups. These
external forms change over time and lose their homogeneity and uniqueness as societies
come into greater contact with each other. History describes an endless intermixing,
imitation, borrowing and adaptation of external forms which is gradually leading to the
emergence of common global culture that is highly tolerant of variations in form and
behavior.

Customs constitute the external forms of culture, values are the inner
content. The forms of culture vary widely but the values are universal, though different
societies accord different degrees of importance to particular values. These values
represent the essential knowledge of life which society has accumulated over time and
passes on to new generations as guiding principles for successful living. As society
imparts skills and information to its youth to help them understand, adapt to and control
their physical environment, it also imparts values that support the survival, growth and
development of the individual and the society. These values are the heart of every
culture, giving it life and sustenance. All great accomplishment, all development, is
based on the acquisition and expression of one or more higher values--physical and
organizational values, social and ethical values, psychological and spiritual values.
Cleanliness is a physical value that is at the root of achievements in hygiene and
medicine. Punctuality is an essential value for all productive activity, whether it is the
timely planting and harvesting of crops at precisely the right season, the delivery of
export orders faster than the competition, or quick administrative decision making that
clears away bureaucratic hurdles to rapid action. Systematic functioning and coordination
are organizational values that promote efficiency and expansion of modern institutions.
Communication, cooperation and tolerance are social values that enable people to work
together harmoniously. Honesty, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility are
psychological values which enable people to rely on each other for mutual benefit. Peace
and harmony are spiritual values that constitute the stable foundation of social
existence.

Together these values constitute the basis for the tremendous
developmental achievements of the past two hundred years. The Japanese commitment to
teamwork and consensus has been a key factor behind its phenomenal economic progress. A
unfailing commitment to discharge all family debts lies behind the great commercial
success of the most prosperous community in South India. The refusal of the American
Quaker shopkeepers to charge exorbitant prices led them to introduce the concept of 'fair
price' two hundred years ago and made them highly successful in business. The German
dedication of quality has made them preeminent engineers. The commitment of Dutch traders
to partnership with other countries rather than exploitation made their sailing vessels
welcome in all ports and enabled them to build lasting commercial relationships around the
world.

The crucial role of cultural factors in development can be illustrated
negatively by instances in which the necessary values are absent. The reluctance of the
poor in many developing countries to assume responsibility for repayment of their debts
makes it extremely difficult to persuade financial institutions to extend credit where it
is most needed. The lack of appreciation for the value of time makes many Third World
producers unreliable suppliers for critical raw materials and components. The effort to
rapidly transform the countries of Eastern Europe into market economies has severely
underestimated both the importance of values in any economic system and the conscious
effort needed to promote appropriate values. The centrally controlled command system
functioned on the basis of authority, obedience, conformity, and security. The market
system depends on values of individual initiative, innovation and risk taking. Behind
every development failure lies a failure to exhibit the values essential for success.

Development is retarded by the slow pace at which society acquires new
values. Normally this change occurs with a change of generation. Those accustomed to the
old ways are gradually replaced by a younger generation more open to something new. But
values can be consciously and systematically introduced in order to abridge the time
needed for transition.

The controversy over the relationship between culture and development
is complicated by the fact that development both creates and destroys cultural forms and
values. Every developmental achievement results in an abandonment of old behaviors and
attitudes and acceptance of new ones. Those attached to the old way feel a decline in
culture, just as the 18th and 19th century aristocracy of Europe perceived the turn to
democracy as a breakdown of social and moral order. Development destroys survival-based,
traditional values and creates achievement-oriented, progressive values. Over the last two
centuries in countries around the world development has strengthened expansive values that
encourage greater freedom, tolerance, individual initiative, self-confidence and
self-respect, dynamism, risk-taking, efficiency, punctuality, organization, communication
and cooperation, open-mindedness and respect of new ideas, innovation and creativity. At
the same time development has weakened values that support respect for tradition and
hierarchy, seniority and authority, self-effacement and humility, patience and
perseverance, generosity and self-sacrifice, and unquestioning acceptance of the status
quo. The 19th century tolerated values based on the exploitation of people over people
through slavery, colonialism and war and the domination of man over nature. The guiding
values for the century now commencing are freedom and respect for the individual, social
equity, tolerance for diversity and harmony with the environment.

Development is widely regarded as the cause of declining moral values
in society, as the source of increasing corruption, crime and violence. These negative
consequences of development are partially the result of declining values, but they are
primarily due to the fact that values such as freedom are extended to vast sections of the
population which were confined in the past by rigid social barriers and minimum
expectations, so they never had need or occasion to embrace the values they now eschew.
Development has swept away many of the barriers that prevented these people from acting in
the past, while at the same time it has raised their expectations and very often their
frustration with the status quo. The self-restraint that formerly was the result of lack
of opportunity, of fear and repression is now replaced by a self-assertion that has not
yet acquired the positive productive values needed for achievement. While it is true that
corruption it more prevalent today than ever before, it is also true that the entire
global economy functions on the basis of a faith, honesty, openness and tolerance that
would have been inconceivable in the past. We mourn the loss of the cloistered values of
the past which were very often accompanied by narrow rigidity and provincialism, while
failing to recognize the enormous growth in positive human values that has made possible
the incredible progress of the past few decades.

Culture is not only a product of human development, it is also a
powerful lever that can be utilized to accelerate it. In past centuries the local culture
of a community was acquired and handed down to future generations through the family. For
a number of reasons this is no longer sufficient. The family is losing its preeminent
position in social life due to increasing mobility of people, the breakdown of the
extended family and the growing role of other institutions such as the corporation in
value formation. Education is taking over many of the functions earlier performed by the
family. Until now education has focused primarily on the transfer of information, ideas
and mental skills. In addition, every educational system impart values, either explicitly
or implicitly. For example, the educational systems in many former colonies still impart
authoritarian and security-oriented values which encourage youth to seek salaried jobs,
especially in government, rather than self-employment in industry; whereas education in
the industrialized West imparts values of open-mindedness, individual initiative and
innovation. By a conscious effort, education can be made a very effective vehicle for
imparting higher development-oriented cultural values to youth.

Integration and tolerance for diversity are crucial values for the
further development of the human community. Yet the increasing speed of globalization has
accentuated a contrary tendency toward increasing fragmentation. Smaller social groups are
reaffirming their own cultural uniqueness on ethnic, linguistic and religious grounds and
demanding separation from larger heterogeneous groups of which they form a part, such as
the nation state. The movement toward fragmentation within previously integrated
communities fails to take into account the advantages of consolidation and association
that the society has discovered in the past. When fragmentation is insisted upon, it
usually leads to violence and almost inevitably leads to an economic decline that has not
been fully anticipated at the time of disunion. Recent events in Yugoslavia and the former
Soviet Union are dramatic illustrations of the enormous costs and social disruption
resulting from this tendency. The same force retards efforts at increasing integration
within and between nations, such as the present efforts toward the economic and political
unification of Europe and economic cooperation in North America. This type of resistance
will continue to grow in strength and visibility until such a time as society comes to
fully accept and appreciate the value of integration. The pull of fragmentation cannot be
countered solely at the political level. Education--both formal and public--is the best
means for rapidly communicating and imparting the benefits of this value to the largest
numbers of people.

In order to fully harness cultural potentials for development, we need
to better understand the natural process of value formation in society, to discover the
circumstances and conditions under which new values are accepted, and the factors that
retard or facilitate this process. In other words, we need to evolve a theory of value
formation which will ultimately enable us to consciously identify and instill values that
are most conducive and supportive of a peaceful, prosperous living for all humanity.

The movement of humanity over the past few hundred years from exclusive
governance of society and enjoyment of privileges by a small elite to universal human
rights, democratic government and universal education is leading inevitably to the time
when economic well-being and social security will also be the inherent right and
possession of all humanity. This radical revolution now in process is as compelling and
irresistible as earlier revolutions which brought the shift from monarchy to democracy and
from a dominant aristocratic to a dominant middle class society. This most modern and
first truly global--because it embraces all levels and sections of humanity--revolution is
driven forward by the rising expectations of a better future that are inexorably growing
and contagiously spreading in the minds of hundreds of millions of people. The energy they
release and their potential for constructive accomplishment is enormous, provided they are
endowed with the essential knowledge, skills and supportive social institutions needed for
achievement. This knowledge, skill, organizational technology and experience are already
possessed and utilized by a portion of humanity. Making them available and accessible to
all is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our time.